How/can you fool a metal detector into a false negative?

Discussion in 'Prospecting & Detecting' started by Old Codger, Jun 13, 2011.

  1. Old Codger

    Old Codger Active Member Silver Stacker

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    I cannot get any info on this via Mr Google, but I wonder if this is possible.

    Like many, i have buried Eagles/Maples/Bars at various places in the back yard and (so far) have not put any scrap metal etc to throw the baddies off the scent.

    Is this possible, heavy rubber sheeting perhaps?

    Assistance appreciated.


    OC
     
  2. fishball

    fishball New Member Silver Stacker

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    Put tin cans or Al wrapped cow poop everywhere to deter people? :)
     
  3. hiho

    hiho Active Member Silver Stacker

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    lead or uranium
     
  4. Old Codger

    Old Codger Active Member Silver Stacker

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    Matrix,

    Actually, I was thinking of a "false negative" in the same context as a 'false positive", but thanks for your thoughts on it. I shall get a supply of old rusty bolts etc.

    Has anyone heard of the rubber sheeting idea?


    OC
     
  5. pmfiend

    pmfiend New Member

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  6. THUCYDIDES79

    THUCYDIDES79 New Member Silver Stacker

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    bury it 1m deep - i dont think that detectors can detect that deep.


    or bury the stash at 1m depth and directly above at maybe 30 cm depth put some
    cans and tins. So even if someone starts digging there they will find the cans and
    swear a bit and leave.


    Maybe the thoughts of someone who actually goes metal detecting would be usefull here,
    they could describe their thought processes when they are digging the area where the
    signal was emitted.
     
  7. hiho

    hiho Active Member Silver Stacker

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  8. Peter

    Peter Well-Known Member

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    Buy a half kilo of very small nails(panel pins) and scatter them all over the yard.
    A signal would come up everywhere.
     
  9. thatguy

    thatguy Active Member

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    Put up a sign

    "This property is guarded by an insane man with a shotgun 4 out of 7 nights a week.... wanna test your luck?"
     
  10. Butch

    Butch Active Member Silver Stacker

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    If your any deeper than 2 feet you wont pick it up with most detectors. I've got a 4500 minelab accurate to about 17ins.

    Do you have any retic solinoids in the same area because they will definitly throw a detector out.
     
  11. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Give me a Minelab 3500 and ill Find them
    However your biggest concern is ingress of water into your containers.Make sure they are super sealed or you could be in for a shock when you dig them up.
    Once herd a story where a guy lost a substantial amount of doe due to having his coins damaged this way.Around 40k so the story went
     
  12. Lovey80

    Lovey80 Well-Known Member

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    When laying mines as an Engineer in the Army we use to use the above method of scattering scrap steel throughout the area. Remember most mines these days only have metal content very small,so large nails and bolts will have them getting pissed off very quickly. So a good way to ward off a theif, However if it was a gov't raid or as such and time isn't an issue, they would end up getting what they want.

    Burrying them 1m deep will certainly help, but if the mine detector has a ground penetrating radar or similar to an Army Ferex locator, large amounts of metal will get found up to 5 or more meters.
     
    66rounds likes this.
  13. Boyo

    Boyo Active Member Silver Stacker

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    This "Dude" is methodical..you have to give him that.

    He has the parameters sussed and knows his gear.

    Must show this to purgatori ..might help us in finding gold at Gympie ,one day :)
     
  14. Big A.D.

    Big A.D. Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    It would be wrong to assume that someone looking for "stuff" in your back yard would only use a metal detector. There are a heap of other types of surveying equipment that won't be thrown off by decoy scrap metal (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geophysical_survey_(archaeology))

    What you do will depend a lot on what you think the biggest risk is.
     
  15. Old Codger

    Old Codger Active Member Silver Stacker

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    Lovey80,



    " However if it was a gov't raid or as such and time isn't an issue, they would end up getting what they want."



    That just about says it all. My main concern is two fold, Home Invasion and a Government demand for my Silver.

    If I accept that the Government will prevail in due course, all that means is that I have to fool the home invader. I doubt they will have a MD just on spec.

    Most of those sort of people would not know about Silver Eagles or Maple Leafs, only about 1% of us do.

    Thanks everybody.



    OC
     
  16. Jislizard

    Jislizard Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    There is a 65 page book called "How to Bury your Goods" by a gentleman with the unlikely name of eddie the wire (trust issues anyone?).

    He has a whole chapter on evading metal detectors, about 10 pages.

    The book set me back a whole $6 and is well worth getting as it has chapters on When and where to bury things, how to guides, retrieval, how to pack the containers, above ground caches and information security (though that chapter is a little out of date, gives you ideas of where you can rent a computer from!)

    Of course if you get the book then we will all know the same info as you, you might want to get it sent to a trusted friends address (just make sure they don't want to bury anything)

    I couldn't be bothered following any of the advice but you may find it useful.
     
  17. Butch

    Butch Active Member Silver Stacker

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    This question kept me awake last night. Suppose you successfully bury your stack several metres deep,ground bait the area with copius quantities of scrape iron. How do you find the original stack?:(
     
  18. Big A.D.

    Big A.D. Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    GPS (hopefully you don't need to get to it after an EMP bomb or solar flare has screwed the GPS satellites) or a good, old-fashioned treasure map with a big "X" on it.
     
  19. Jislizard

    Jislizard Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    +1, and definitely not with a metal detector.

    If it is keeping you awake at night then maybe burying it is not such a good idea at all. Nothing is worth that level of anxiety, there are enough real problems around without manufacturing more.
     
  20. Naphthalene Man

    Naphthalene Man Active Member Silver Stacker

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    If you did this then make sure that you don't mow the lawn without protection....
    ...wait for it...
     

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